What Is Organizational Communication?
What Is An Organization?
Before we define organizational communication let's look at what organizations are, and how pervasive they are in today's society. Etzioni states, "We are born in organizations, educated by organizations, and most of us spend much of our lives working for organizations". Simply put, from birth to death, organizations impact every aspect of our lives.
Case In Point
What is Organizational Communication?
The United States Army is an example of an organization. As such, it has a system of hierarchies, networks, and purpose. In this organization, there is an importance placed on moving swiftly and skillfully, having a respect for the line of command and each other, and protecting the American citizenry.
"You can help. Tell Yale University to stop these pointless experiments before one more songbird dies".
Here you can see, PETA, a very different organization from the Army,
that is dedicated to protecting animals. Rather than recruiting soldiers
for a larger conglomerate, it encourages pockets of resistance against
the mistreatment of animals. There is an 'action' tab on their website
that alerts visitors how they too can help.
Stephen P. Robbins defines an organization as a "consciously coordinated social unit composed of two or more people, that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals". Why have organizations in the first place? We organize together for common social, personal, political, or professional purposes. We organize together to achieve what we cannot accomplish individually.
When we study organizational communication our focus is primarily on corporations, manufacturing, the service industry, and for-profit businesses. However, organizations also include not-for-profit companies, schools, government agencies, small businesses, and social or charitable agencies such as churches or a local humane society. Organizations are complicated, dynamic organisms that take on a personality and culture of their own, with unique rules, hierarchies, structures, and divisions of labor. Organizations can be thought of as systems of people who are in constant motion. Organizations are social systems that rely on communication to exist. Simon puts it quite simply: "Without communication, there can be no organization".